Disneyland Resort has been busy opening new restaurants, closing dining locations, and working on the construction of future eateries throughout Downtown Disney as the dining and shopping district undergoes a culinary transformation. We’ve been meticulously following this progress for years, and today we’re reviewing the latest opening. We just ate at the new restaurant during the opening week.
Downtown Disney’s new celebrity chef restaurant is now open, and we visited on its fourth day of business. We have photos of the food here and our thoughts on the restaurant’s unique atmosphere. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including a new Haunted Mansion popcorn bucket and 12 special offerings happening at Disneyland for one day only.
Britain Meets California in Gordon Ramsay at The Carnaby
Gordon Ramsay at The Carnaby is a new table-service restaurant at Downtown Disney in Disneyland Resort. It comes from the owners of Earl of Sandwich, and is located on the second floor of Earl of Sandwich’s new, permanent, two-story building near the Downtown Disney LIVE! Stage.
The entire area is now bustling with life. This space has successfully replaced the previous AMC Theatres and old Earl of Sandwich location with more life in close proximity.
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Disney describes this restaurant as a 1960s-inspired British gastropub, but it’s also got a good dose of California in the freshness of its different dishes, in addition to the more classic British items on the menu. I typically would not choose to eat at a British restaurant, but was impressed across the board with the food, setting, and experience here.
The restaurant is a mix of indoor and outdoor space. To access the restaurant you can walk upstairs or take the elevator from the lobby. You emerge into one of two bars within the restaurant.
Right now the restaurant is specifically using reservations to control the capacity of the restaurant. When we asked, they said that walk ups are not currently being accommodated, though that was during the first week of opening.
We expect that the main bar will become more easily accessible in the future. Right now, the bar seats are reservation-only, like the rest of the restaurant.
This is the main dining room at the Carnaby. I was a bit surprised by the layout of the restaurant. It is an L-shaped dining room that feels open and inviting. It pulls off an eclectic pub feeling without making it into a cave.
One wall is almost all windows looking out at a patio. Beyond the patio is the now-vibrant Downtown Disney lawn, which is bordered by this restaurant, Din Tai Fung, Parkside Market, and three fun boutique shops.
There are two separated patios off of the main dining room. The outdoor patio at The Carnaby was fantastic. Throughout the spring and fall this will be the prime seating at the restaurant.
Here’s a look at the second bar off one of the patios.
Some tables on one of the patios are separated by plants. It seems like a lot of thought was put into the space. The memorabilia adorning the walls does a nice job setting the restaurant in the expected time period.
See the view of the fireworks in the picture below! You can easily watch the full show from out here. There is currently no background music of the fireworks played here. Perhaps they could add that in the future. We really enjoyed the show view and it’s a perfect way to end the night. You can watch the fireworks from your seat in the main dining room or easily walk out to the patio to watch.
Now, let’s turn to the food, drinks, and dessert from our dinner.
Our Appetizers and Salad at The Carnaby
We began with some appetizers. The Parker Rolls ($14) were delicious. They were hot and pulled apart. They were perfectly salty. I could have eaten the whole tray.
G.F.C. Chicken Wings ($19) weren’t buffalo wings, but not totally sweet either. They were something perfectly in the middle. I never love buffalo wings, but I loved these. The cheese was a perfect addition. You could easily pull them off the bone with a fork and knife.
The Pea Guacamole ($16) is made with about 70% avocado and 30% mashed peas, and comes with shrimp crackers. The combination gave the dip a runnier hummus consistency. When the chip touched the dip, it started to crackle, almost like a Rice Krispies treat.
Other appetizers on The Carnaby’s menu are Carnaby Nachos ($24) and Salt & Pepper Squid ($17).
We also tried the Waldorf Salad ($17). This was light and refreshing. I appreciated that the bleu cheese dressing was not too heavy, but that there was a good flavor. I didn’t ask for the dressing on the side, but it came that way for you to choose how heavily you wanted to sauce the lettuce.
The Carnaby’s other salad selections include the Carnaby Heirloom Tomato Salad and a Caesar Salad. You can add grilled chicken, salmon, shrimp, or skirt steak to any salad for an extra cost.
Mains at The Carnaby
Now onto the main entrées at Gordon Ramsay at The Carnaby. Our group ordered a few dishes to split up and share.
I’ve got to start with the Beef Wellington ($73). Wow! The meat was tender, the mushrooms and herbs were great even on their own, and the dough outside captured all of the flavors.
This was my favorite item of our meal. It’s the restaurant’s most expensive entrée, but it was delicious.
Among the items we ordered, I was initially least interested in the Cottage Pie ($38), but then it impressed me. The potato crust, which is really a layer of mashed potatoes, was not too thick. The meat in here was tender. The only flaw here was that the onions or shallots in the baby vegetables on top of the dish tasted more raw than they should have been, and left me with a strong onion aftertaste. Hopefully, this can be chalked up to opening-period misses and will be adjusted.
The Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips ($33) were fantastic. I wouldn’t typically order fish and chips at a sit-down restaurant like this, but it felt important to try the staples at a British pub, and I’m glad I did.
The crust was not too thick, and the fish fell apart. It came out piping hot and perfectly crisp. The “chips,” or French fries, were pretty standard, but still good and very salty. The Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips are served with tartar sauce, mashed peas, and malt vinegar.
We did not order the 12 oz Prime Rib Trolley ($68), but I had to ask to snap a picture when it passed by. The presentation of the prime rib is very fun. They bring it out on a trolley with a big metal cover.
And here’s a look at the sides from the prime rib: roasted carrots, Yorkshire pudding, and creamed spinach.
Other main dishes on the menu at The Carnaby include Bangers & Mash ($29), Branzino ($41), The Carnaby Wagyu Burger ($25), Chickpea Tikka Masala ($29), Roasted Norwegian Salmon ($39), Chicken Milanese ($36), Filet Steak ($64), Skirt Steak ($51), and NY Strip Steak ($38).
Drinks and Dessert at The Carnaby
Since this is a British pub-inspired restaurant, there are lots of drinks on the menu. We tried two drinks at The Carnaby.
The Peach & Basil Old Fashioned ($21) is made of Elijah Craig Rye, basil sugar, and bitters, and served with peach cotton candy.
The Tea & Whiskey ($22) is Garrison Brothers Small Batch Bourbon, lemon, Earl Grey tea, bitters, and egg white.
For dessert, we had the Sticky Toffee Pudding ($15). It’s Gordon Ramsay’s mother’s recipe, and it was delicious. It wasn’t too sweet, too gooey, or too dense. It was a perfect combination of date cake and toffee sauce. This was up there with the Beef Wellington as the best dish on the menu.
Other dessert options are OREO Cheesecake ($15), Chocolate Tart ($16), and an Ice Cream Sundae ($22).
Thoughts on Our Visit
The one negative from our visit to Gordon Ramsay at The Carnaby was how loud the main dining room was. Even when it was not completely full we were straining to hear at the table. Looking around, I noticed there were no materials in the room to quiet the noise. The restaurant also plays authentic 1960s British rock and roll throughout. It felt as though the music was turned up even louder as the restaurant got more crowded during the night.
This is something that should be fixable in the coming weeks and months. The restaurant could benefit from sound absorbing additions and tests of the right volume of music to pair with the restaurant noise. The outdoor patio also poses a problem for the music because you are competing to hear the music from the restaurant with live music from the courtyard and people’s conversations.
This thought was top of mind because I am currently reading Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business, written by Danny Meyer, who started Union Square Café in Manhattan and Shake Shack. In the book, Meyer discusses one of his restaurants being too loud and needing to find a creative solution that wouldn’t require impacts to the historic ceiling. They ended up putting sound absorbing materials under the tables and chairs.
Meyer described the work that they did writing “We hung lush curtains, stuffed balls of fabric underneath our tabletops to capture noise bouncing off the floors, and upholstered the seat backs of our chairs. One lesson we learned from the experience is that everything you do to mitigate noise helps a lot. This is because when a restaurant is noisy, a cumulative effect occurs: each guest has to speak a little more loudly to be heard over the ever-increasing din.”
Gordon Ramsay at The Carnaby should take that note and make an effort to reduce diner noise to be able to enjoy the noise of the background music. There’s a happy medium between where they are now and quiet. The energy is there, the noise is just beyond the elevated cuisine they are serving.
Generally though, we were very happy with the meal and look forward to dining here again in the future.
The Carnaby just expanded reservations on OpenTable after initially selling out into September. The dinner hours of the restaurant are from 4:00 to 10:00 PM. Tables are now available through December 30, 2026.
The restaurant helped us to secure a reservation during their opening period and sent a few appetizers and drinks to the table. We paid for the rest.
There is still plenty to come from Downtown Disney as it continues construction on two restaurants that are replacing Tortilla Jo’s and the long-awaited arrival of Porto’s Bakery & Café with its Cuban pastries. Stayed tuned here on Mickey Visit!
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